Give It Away
by Beckon
Summary: She knew what she was afraid of, but it wasn't what she wished it would be. She wished she could say that she was afraid of the Haunted- she wanted to be afraid of them but... the only Haunted anywhere near her had been reduced to pieces scattered around the room.
1. Chapter 1

Kidman kept her hands pressed over her mouth- too scared to say anything, let alone make any sort of noise.

She knew what she was afraid of, but it wasn't what she wished it would be. She wished she could say she was afraid of the Haunted- she wanted to be afraid of them but... the only Haunted anywhere near her had been reduced to bloodied, dismembered pieces scattered around the room. The few remaining bodies still twitched and convulsed in her limited line of sight- their nervous systems not quite understanding that they were dead now.

And it seemed like just twenty minutes ago, this room was going to be their last stand. They could do nothing but watch as the large group of Haunted came storming in through the single doorway. And, as though this situation couldn't get worse with their limited ammo, that high-pitched ringing sang out and almost immediately downed her partner.

It left her as the only one to fight against the oncoming horde.

With no other way in or out, it should've been their bodies that were ripped apart and scattered all over the place.

But it wasn't...

Her back pressed painfully against the wall behind her as though she was trying to convince herself that it could be moved with a little more force. She had backed herself in between two medicine cabinets when the massacre started and had silently waited there until the screaming was over with. And even now, as pinned in as she had made herself, she couldn't convince herself to leave the spot.

She drew in shuddered breaths as she slowly looked over to where he remained standing amongst the carnage. He stood completely still, completely unmoving, almost as though his mind wasn't in this very moment right now. And yet, in one hand, he still held on tightly to the axe- blood and flesh matter messily dripping off of its chipped blade.

And she was reminded of what she was truly afraid of...

* * *

_Despite the rotted teeth that sank themselves into the back of his neck, Joseph still managed to throw the Haunted off with a quick thrust of his elbow; he struck the creature hard in the soft portion of its ribs, breaking a few as a result. He was quick to follow through with the motion, never minding the flesh that came off between teeth, as he brought his right arm around- bringing the axe along with it._

_The blade made contact with the Haunted's forehead and sank inward, easily breaking through its softened skull and severing its decayed, frontal lobe. But he hit with such force that the creature's head snapped downward and an audible crack erupted from its neck as it collapsed._

* * *

Kidman flinched as the axe slipped from his fingers and clattered loudly to the ground; the sound was amplified by the heavy silence in the room, making it sound louder than it should've been.

But she noted that he had made no attempt to catch it.

Instead, he curled his bloody fingers into his palm before he moved to readjust the cuff of his glove. It seemed like such an arbitrary thing to do, especially considering what he had just did. But he hardly seemed bothered by his actions.

She found it hard to believe that this was the same man who, hours ago, confessed it was difficult for him to shoot the Haunted. They still resembled humans in a sense and... that kind of psychological game was getting to him. He didn't like to use his gun in the first place and was usually the last one to draw it- to him, there were always other ways to get out of a dangerous situation. But this wasn't another shoot out and these weren't just scared criminals... these were monsters. And even though he knew that now, he would still go out of his way to sneak around them or avoid them all together.

And yet, he didn't even hesitate to break or lop off any limbs that came reaching out towards him.

So this... this was unlike him.

This wasn't him at all.

But he barely seemed phased by any of it.

He didn't even react to the blood that now heavily stained his white sleeves- or really even react to any of the blood or flesh matter that had been splattered over him during the massacre.

Instead, he slowly turned around to face her.

* * *

_Joseph barely felt the hands that eagerly wrapped themselves around his neck as he dug his fingers into the half-decayed face in front of him._

_Or rather, what might've once been a face; the skin had been split down the center and hung loosely to the side to expose the Haunted's skull pushing through stretched muscle strands. Little effort was needed as he pushed his fingers into the loose flesh and finished ripping it off, exposing broken teeth and a half missing teeth. The Haunted shrieked at the quick motion and squeezed his neck tighter; it forced the sharpened barbed wire around its fingers into his skin, and drew out both blood and air from him._

_He wheezed briefly, the sudden lack of air finally catching up to him, before he forced his hands upward and jabbed his thumbs into the Haunted's eyes._

_Blood ruptured from its black sockets, splattering his face in short, crimson spurts, before he roughly twisted the creature's head enough to snap its neck._

* * *

His uniform, which he had always been so strict about in appearance, was torn, disheveled and bloody. His white shirt looked beyond salvageable, and even his black vest showed thick clumps of tissue stuck to it.

The blood that had sprayed out across his face continued to drip carelessly off of his slender jaw, but he hardly seemed to take notice or even mind it. The only thing he seemed bothered by was the blood that trickled out of his nose- as though he recognized that at least that blood was his own. And even then, he only briefly touched it before wiping it off on the back of his glove.

Kidman watched as he reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a small cleaning cloth, which he then used to carefully wipe the blood off of his glasses. And it was odd, almost frightening, at how calm and detached he was as he cleaned the dirty lens before he slowly slipped them back on- tucking the now stained cloth back into his vest.

He looked even stranger now with a blood coated face and clean glasses.

She tried to stifle the brief gasp that edged out of her lips as she caught his eyes; their natural, dark color had almost been completely erased by the white haze that infected them.

He looked like a Haunted himself...

But, instead of having the erratic, aggressive behavior of one... he was simply unmoving, unemotional...

He looked almost dead to her now.

* * *

_There was no hesitation as he lifted the broken cinder block and held it above the downed Haunted, whose remaining leg was only held on by stubborn strips of muscle and tendon._

_There was no reaction as he brought it down and smashed open the softened skull below him._

_A mix of blood, skull fragments and decayed brain matter erupted across the dirty floor and over his shoes- which was the only reason that provoked him to step away from the mess._

* * *

He slowly walked over to her, never minding the bodies that laid out bloodied and crumpled in his path.

It would've been a lie to say that she wasn't, at the very least, terrified of him. At this point... she didn't even know who he was anymore.

If her back wasn't literally against a wall right now, she might've tried to make a run for it, or at least tried to keep space between them. And yet, she also had a feeling that that might be a bad idea. It might piss him off and he might come after her next... and do to her what he did to all of those Haunted.

Kidman started to drop her hands back to her side, but decided to keep one hand close to her gun just in case. Although she wasn't sure if she would be able to pull the trigger if it came down to that. Or maybe she was terrified because she knew that she would.

She would have to.

Joseph said nothing as he stopped in front of her, essentially pinning her between the two cabinets with no way of escaping- one way in, one way out. And yet, he only briefly seemed to look her over. Up close like this, she could partly see where the skin on the side and back of his neck had been torn open by teeth. She could see the bruising around his neck coming in and she could practically trace the outline of the hands that had left them; she could see every puncture mark from where the barbed wire had been forced into his skin.

There was the open tear in his vest that was damp with blood as well- his blood for once, but he didn't seem the least bit affected by the inevitable pain.

Her fingers squeezed the handle of her gun as she watched his hands move towards her; she wasn't entirely sure why she had holstered it in the first place, but now she was regretting not having it out in front of her.

She felt the warmth of blood against her skin as he moved to cup his hands over her jaw.

His touch was stiff, but... it didn't hold any sort of threat towards her.

Still, she held tight to the fear that he would break her neck the moment she let her guard down.

* * *

_He partly screamed as the large shard of glass was stabbed and twisted into his ribs, ripping open skin, muscle and thin membrane. And yet, the pain was only brief- a second of distraction._

_Joseph managed to wrestle the glass shard out of the attacking Haunted's hands and pulled it out of his own body. Blood spurted out of the open injury, but he hardly noticed it. Instead, he turned the shard around and ran it into the Haunted's open stomach, drawing out a startled shriek._

_Keeping his free hand tightly holding onto the creature's shoulder, he stabbed the Haunted again and again, over and over, until the flesh had completely ripped open into one massive wound._

_Until the next stab had his hand simply cave into the open cavity of its scrambled stomach._

_There was no thought process, no internal thinking, he just grabbed a handful of the messy organs and ripped them out._

* * *

Without a single word, he leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers.

Kidman could taste warm blood on his lips and cringed at the bitter, metallic taste- knowing well that it wasn't his.

Her hand never left her gun, but she moved her other one to his chest; her fingers partly tangling in his torn collar. She didn't know what he was still capable of, or what he might even do to her... but maybe she could still get some leverage- just enough to shove him off and make a run for it. Or at least put enough space between them for her to get her gun up.

When he pulled away, she slowly drew her weapon from its holster.

But... her previous plans froze and she stopped when she noticed that the emptiness and the white haze in his eyes were gone.

...

It was him again... the real him.

And it looked as though the realization of his actions had finally caught up to him- there was fear now of what he had just become, of what was now an unavoidable fate for him. His fingers trembled as they curled against her jaw, before he moved one hand to brush the loose bangs from her face, smearing blood against her skin with the subtle touch.

"... It terrifies me to know that... this is what I'm capable of- that this is what I would do for you."


	2. Chapter 2

His breath was caught in his throat as he felt her warm hands grip tightly to his damp shoulders; she gave a brief, hard squeeze before she quickly pulled him to her.

And it felt like he had no other choice but to go with her.

His entire body felt numb and unresponsive... he could barely move.

At any other time, he was certain he would've been beyond glad to see her again. In fact, he had been initially- until everything happened.

He had absolutely no grasp on timing, he didn't know how long it had been since he had last seen her, or anyone for that matter. It could've been weeks, months- hell, a year for all he knew. What he did know was that, he recognized her almost immediately and he felt that skip in his chest follow afterwards; he knew that this kind of reunion should've been wanted, it should've been celebrated...

But all he could think of, with her being this close to him, was the smell of blood on her clothing.

...

He didn't see all of it- he didn't even know how it had started or how she even got here.

He just prayed that he had missed something, a trigger or something that would've caused her to do all of this...

* * *

_The first scientist went down in a mess of blood and screams as Kidman brought the fire axe down on his shoulder first, which ended up breaking his collarbone. She embedded the axe into his neck second, when she was able to get a more accurate aim on it- she didn't want to miss after all._

_Blood sputtered out of the man's mouth and neck as hands grasped uselessly at the gaping wound. The chipped blade had all too easily severed his jugular in the open swing, causing a mayhem of blood to spray out with every cardiac pulse._

_A crimson pool was already forming underneath him as his movements became more erratic and convulsive._

_But she just stepped over him and moved on to the next person in her way._

* * *

Joseph felt her hand cup the back of his neck as she slumped forward from her kneeling position and pulled him tightly against her shoulder.

He could hear her softly humming to him now as fingers gently traced circles over the base of his neck. At one point, he might've been comforted by the action, maybe even yearned for it, but... not now. Not after he had just watched her slaughter every single person in this room- whatever this room was. Or rather, wherever the hell it was. Nothing here looked familiar to him, reality or STEM related.

He had absolutely no idea or recollection of where he was now.

The unfamiliar environment crept fear into his unsettled mind as he began to wonder why he was here in the first place... and what exactly were these people doing to him?

The only thing he knew here... was her.

And now, he wasn't entirely sure if that was true anymore.

Shaking fingers moved to tangle in her stained shirt regardless as he tried to block out the dying, convulsing gasps that filled the rest of the room.

* * *

_The woman screamed as Kidman struck her with one of the surgical trays she had been working with._

_She ended up striking the woman hard enough to knock her flat to the ground- hell, she nearly knocked her unconscious as well. But, she was glad that she didn't- she wanted the scientist to be fully conscious for this._

_The woman gasped and struggled to move her sluggish body away, as Kidman knelt down and carefully picked up a scalpel that had gotten knocked aside._

_She held the tool firmly in her hand as she walked over to the scientist and leaned down to grab her by the arm. Pulling the woman up, she lifted her just enough to dig the scalpel into the center of her throat._

* * *

With the exception of only a few, these people- either scientist or doctors, he wasn't sure- didn't even try to fight back.

Most of them tried to run away from her, but... she wouldn't let them escape. He guessed she had managed to lock all of them inside somehow and simply killed them one by one as she went around the room- forcing each survivor to watch and wait until it was their turn next.

...

He had to sit there and watch her go from person to person.

He had to listen to her ignore their pleads for her to stop or their attempts to reason with her.

But she never responded- she didn't even act like she had heard them. Hell, she didn't even give them a reason as to why she was doing what she was doing.

She just murdered them.

He felt her pull away from him and felt her warm hands cup against his jaw; her hands were trembling as she looked at him and moved to trace small circles over his cheekbones with her thumbs. She looked just as lost and scared as he was before she leaned in and brushed her lips against his own. His initial instinct was to pull away, but with a literal wall against his back, there was nowhere to go.

He could taste blood on her lips and in her mouth- and it was bitter and disgusting.

It was difficult to admit that, despite the gentleness in her touch and even the look of worry and concern in her eyes, in this one instance, he was terrified of her.

* * *

_"Please, just tell us what you want?!" the man screamed, as he kept one hand pressed to the bleeding hole in his chest. He probably would've been dead by now if she hadn't broken the scalpel off in his ribs."Listen, I assure you, Mobius can accommodate for whatever you need-"_

_Kidman kicked him hard across the side of the head to cut him off and knocked him back to the floor, before she slowly walked closer. She had decided to watch him grovel for a little while, following him slowly to where he eventually collapsed to the floor. If he had been lucky and not had fought her before, then the scalpel could've punctured his heart and this mess would've been over with by now. But he decided to be difficult- and now he had to pay the price for it._

_She carefully placed her heel on the back of his neck, and pushed downward- enjoying the sounds that came out of him until his neck finally snapped._

* * *

Her fingers brushed over the raw needle scars that lined down the side of his neck, in the crook of his arm and over his wrists.

He could only faintly recall the different variations of needles that had been stabbed into his skin over and over again in search for a working vein. In fact, he somewhat remembered the small collection of them that had been forced into the back of his neck and head as well... and silently hoped she didn't find them.

At this point, he just didn't want to think about them or what their purpose might've been...

He just tried to focus on not flinching every time she touched one of the scars- there was still a little bit of pain that accompanied each one.

She didn't even look surprised, just... concerned at first and then almost angry.

And he held his breath as she gently turned his head to one side to examine the fresh bruises on his neck; it was as though he was half-expecting her to bring a scalpel across his throat just as well.

But she didn't.

He heard a broken sigh escape her, before she pulled him against her once more. Her lips brushed against his forehead this time as she moved to run her fingers through his wet hair. Despite the warm blood on her hands, she was gentle and comforting now... completely opposite of the person she had just been.

She held him for a short while, as though more for herself and for her own comfort, before she pushed herself to her feet and stepped back.

He heard the subtle clicking of her heels against the tiled floor as she walked away.

It seemed like she was searching the room for something.

* * *

_It was a quick sidestep to avoid the man's useless swing, before Kidman grabbed him by the back of his coat and threw him into the nearest wall._

_And he hit it with enough force to daze himself for a few seconds- just long enough for her grab a handful of his hair._

_She held tight as she began to smash his head into the wall, listening to the repeated sounds of his face breaking with each hit. He was gasping and choking between each strike and uselessly tried to free himself from her grasp- all to no avail. She could see the blood spilling out of his mouth and nose and watched the crimson stain on the wall become larger and larger with every contact._

_And it didn't take long before the man stopped struggling and went limp._

_The fact that he didn't go completely dead weight told her that, while he wasn't entirely unconscious just yet, he was dazed enough to be useless._

_Grabbing him by the back of the coat once more, she dragged him over to the nearest subject tub and dropped his upper body into it._

_She felt nothing as she watched the water splash around him._

* * *

He desperately wished he could remember what had happened, or at least how he got here, or... anything at all to do with this place.

But his head was a mess of blurred memories and images, and the more he tried to concentrate on something, the more his head began to throb. And the resulting pain that shot across his skull and down his neck was absolutely agonizing.

His own fingers touched at the scars on his neck, somehow still able to feel the burning sensation of the drugs that had been forced into his body.

If he had been drugged this entire time... it would certainly explain a lot.

He felt himself flinch as he heard her heels clicking louder now as she slowly returned to him.

She said nothing as she knelt down once more and draped what might've been a sheet of some kind around him. Her hands were particular with making sure it covered his back completely and making sure it encased him as best it could.

It was only then that he became vaguely aware of how undressed he was- at least from the waist up. And suddenly how cold it was... and how badly his body ached.

* * *

_Kidman barely managed to dodge the syringe the woman stabbed towards her- barely avoiding the needle from going into her shoulder. There was honestly no telling what was in the damn thing either._

_Grabbing the woman's vulnerable wrist, she twisted it and forced her to let go of the syringe before she brought her elbow back into the scientist's face. It was enough to knock the woman back as her hands instinctively went to her now bleeding nose, which was spilling blood over her lips and down her chin. There was no hesitation as Kidman grabbed the woman by the collar of her jacket before she forced her head into the edge of the nearby countertop- knocking over several glass beakers and cylinders._

_She reached for the fire axe that had been disarmed from her before and, with a swift swing, brought it down on the back of the woman's neck._

* * *

She pulled the sheet tighter around him, before she moved her fingers through his hair once more.

Somehow, it seemed like she knew that he was hesitant around her- that he couldn't return whatever emotion she was feeling towards him at this very moment. And yet, it didn't seem to phase her.

She had been in a similar situation after all...

"… I know how it feels now." She whispered, as she pressed her forehead to his and let her fingers gently stroke his jaw. "To know that… this is what I would do for you…"


End file.
